PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1. been have Rivers by damaged activity human

2. of region the polar in the Rivers Arctic

3. past the biodiversity 200 to over years Changes

4. there reasons The said were many researchers

5. into introduction species The rivers fish of of

6. have these regions is towns large because This

7. economic have which the development most Rivers

8. the was Thames The one worst-affected River of

9. is This probably due to rate a slower

10. nations Rivers are many unrecognisable in rich

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false
(F).

a. Humans have damaged over 85% of the world's rivers. T/F

b. Researchers looked at data on more than 2,500 rivers. T/F

c. Scientists looked at biodiversity loss over the past 2,000 years. T/F

d. Farming is one reason for the damage done to rivers. T/F

e. The worst-hit rivers are those in South America. T/F

f. The River Thames in London is now very clean. T/F

g. The rivers with the least damage are in Africa and Australia. T/F

h. Rivers today look very different to how they looked 200 years ago. T/F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: (The words in bold are from the news article.)

1. damaged a. wealthy

2. conducted b. found

3. regions c. unidentifiable

4. discovered d. areas

5. reason e. affected

6. rich f. harmed

7. impacted g. cause

8. due to h. speed

9. rate i. carried out

10. unrecognisable j. because of

GAP FILL
A new study shows that 86 per cent of the world's rivers have polar

been damaged by human _____________________. The study was seriously

conducted by researchers from a university in Toulouse, France. species
They examined _____________________ on over 2,500 rivers around
activity
the world. They did not look at rivers in the _____________________
biodiversi
regions of the Arctic and Antarctica or in deserts. The scientists
ty
looked into changes to _____________________ over the
overfishin
past 200 years. They discovered that biodiversity in over half
g data
of rivers has been _____________________ damaged by

humans. The researchers said there were many reasons

_____________________ for this damage. A big reason is the

introduction of new _____________________ of fish into rivers. Other

reasons include pollution, dams, _____________________,

farming and climate change.

The researchers say the worst-hit rivers are in lead

_____________________ Europe and North America. This is because study

these _____________________ have large and rich towns and cities. density
The _____________________ researcher said: "Rivers which have the
regions
most economic development around them, like the Mississippi
western
River, are the most _____________________ impacted." The River
Thames in London was one of the worst-affected rivers in the compar
_____________________. The least-impacted rivers are in Africa and ed
Australia. The researcher said: "This is probably
strongly
_____________________ to a slower rate of industrialisation in Africa
due
and low population (15) _____________________ around rivers in

Australia." He added that rivers in many rich nations are

unrecognisable (16) _____________________ with how they were 200
years ago.